What's very odd to me about this is the rate that the "world elite" (the people who make the decisions) are willing to throw money out the window in the name of this.
I honestly can't tell if it's because they know something we don't, or if it's just a simple case of keeping up with the Joneses/one-upmanship in risk management.
In reply to Tom_Spangler :
Agree. Today seems like the turning point as to how I feel about this whole situation.
Jeez, this thread is mushrooming faster than the damn virus. At Ease. We're not all going to die. It's a virus like any other flu strain. We won't all get it. Take common sense precautions. When was the last time you had the "normal" flu? And the stock market will come back. I bought toilet paper and facial tissue today at BJ's because we were low at home, and all the other stores around were out of stock primarily because of the current panic. But really, we will all be just fine. We can't help what local gov't might do. But in the end, we will all be just fine.
P.S. I had to travel to Mexico City for business in April, 2009. At the time this was the epicenter of Swine Flu, H1N1. I boldly went forth for my employer 
. But I did it after much thought and deliberation. Fortunately I didn't have any health problem. Ablolutely, some people will contract this virus Most will weather it just fine. A small percent with those "underlying" problems might not. But it doesn't seem to be any different than issues surrounding any other influenza strains.
In reply to Robbie :
I think it's the exact opposite, they don't know anything at all. This thing isn't the flu, so it can't be treated like the flu can. At this point there's no vaccine, they don't know why it doesn't seem to affect children they way it does adults. We don't have enough tests to figure out who has it and who doesn't, which means community transmission is well underway here in the states. And if all that wasn't enough, it seems to be contagious well before the host begins to show any symptoms. The worry here isn't if it's lethal, it's what can be done to contain the spread. Because, if you are old, immuno-compromised, or have other underlying respriatory issues, it can kill you. How do you do that when trans-oceanic flights are more accessible than in the history of the world? I think i'll stop now..
In reply to 06HHR :
Did I not read somewhere that a top heavy senior population is one of the financial challenges facing many countries like China, Japan, Korea and Italy? Be nice to cull the herd and only have to deal with those raised to obey the commands from their cell phones.
Wait, I am an old fart...did I just panic or make a funny?
Pete
Gary said:Jeez, this thread is mushrooming faster than the damn virus. At Ease. We're not all going to die. It's a virus like any other flu strain. We won't all get it. Take common sense precautions. When was the last time you had the "normal" flu? And the stock market will come back. I bought toilet paper and facial tissue today at BJ's because we were low at home, and all the other stores around were out of stock primarily because of the current panic. But really, we will all be just fine. We can't help what local gov't might do. But in the end, we will all be just fine.
Again, I'm not afraid I'm going to die. The issue is that the number of sick people can overwhelm the health care system. That's why we need to try and contain it. Eventually it will be everywhere, but the more we can slow that process, the better we'll be able to handle it. We need to prevent a spike and make it into a more gentle slope. THAT is the key to the whole thing.
From Angela Merkel:
"Two in three Germans may become infected, Ms. Merkel said at a news conference that reverberated far beyond her country. There is no immunity now against the virus and no vaccine yet. It spreads exponentially, and the world now faces a pandemic.
The most important thing, the chancellor said, is to slow down the spread of the coronavirus to win time for people to develop immunity, and to prevent the health care system from becoming overwhelmed.
“We have to understand that many people will be infected,” Ms. Merkel said. “The consensus among experts is that 60 to 70 percent of the population will be infected as long as this remains the situation.”
Ms. Merkel’s estimates were probably a worst-case scenario, though not wildly out of line with those of experts outside Germany."
In reply to Tom_Spangler :
... which is what I believe is being done here in this country. Wife and I have a Viking River Cruise on the Danube scheduled for May. We're going to opt for Viking's offer for a voucher to postpone for sometime in the future. Europe didn't act quickly, and they have a serious problem as a result.
I believe the situation is being managed here with this outbreak, compared to 2009 with H1N1. At that time very little was done, and the U.S., and the rest of the world suffered the consequences.
Gary said:But in the end, we will all be just fine.
Not to be morbid, buts it's very likely that someone on this board will die from the coronavirus.
This is not the flu, statistically you would be 35x more likely to die from the coronavirus than the flu.
That's not pessimism, it's just being realistic.
In reply to NOHOME :
Funny, my dad said the same thing about "thinning out these old people sucking up Medicare and social security." Hes 72, on Medicare, and collecting social security (though also working full time paying loads of taxes, presumably some into those programs). He did mention he doesnt want my mom to get it, she has heart/lung problems. He tells her "wash your hands and get a face mask, I dont want to go looking for a new wife"
Keep in mind 90% of what he says is in jest. He has a healthy if morbid sense of humor.
I work for a large tech company in the Silicon Valley. On Monday morning the commute was really light. I got to work and read my email. Our CEO asked everyone (~7500 people) to work from home until at least the end of March. I already WFH 2-3 days a week so it isn't a huge shock to the system for me. At this point I'm more worried about cabin fever than the Corona virus.
In reply to Catatafish :
We will see. I hope I'm right and you are not. I'm optimistic and realistic based on history. As to your assertion that someone on this board will die from the virus, well I don't even think that's something that should even be mentioned here.
Gary said:In reply to Catatafish :
We will see. I hope I'm right and you are not. I'm optimistic. As to your assertion that someone on this board will die from the virus, well I don't even think that's something that should even be discussed.
I hope you are right. I would LOVE to be wrong about this. I've asked my parents to return from their snowbird home just in case. They believe they will be just fine, and again I hope it's not even necessary.
Gary said:Jeez, this thread is mushrooming faster than the damn virus. At Ease. We're not all going to die. It's a virus like any other flu strain. We won't all get it. Take common sense precautions. When was the last time you had the "normal" flu? And the stock market will come back. I bought toilet paper and facial tissue today at BJ's because we were low at home, and all the other stores around were out of stock primarily because of the current panic. But really, we will all be just fine. We can't help what local gov't might do. But in the end, we will all be just fine.
P.S. I had to travel to Mexico City for business in April, 2009. At the time this was the epicenter of Swine Flu, H1N1. I boldly went forth for my employer
First it isn't like the flu. We have treatment for the flu and vaccines. Second the RO number of COVID-19 maybe higher then the flu and it is really at absolute best case 5 times more deadly then the flu and possibly up to 34 times more deasly. Also given the number of obese, older, diabetic, etc people we have in this country and couple that with a large percentage of the population not having days off, decent health insurance and/or living paycheck to paycheck and the fact that we have relatively few open hospital beds and a nurse shortage, there absolutely is a massive chance this turns into an absolute E36 M3show.
The important thing at this point should be to try to slow the spread as much as humanly possible in order to prevent the medical system from being overwhelmed because the more it is overwhelmed the higher the death rate will be as we have seen in Wuhan and as we are seeing in northern Italy. Also if the medical system does get overwhelmed, what happens if you are in a car wreck or have any number of order medical issues?
No travel ban is going to stop it maybe slow the spread some. Remember after 9-11 they said not to let the terrorist attacks stop your daily way of life? I'm not fond of the saying but this is really a game changer in so many ways. We are being told by our leaders to change our daily way of life. If there ever was a mass test of mankind's mettle in modern times, this is it.
I've had it and it's bad, but not end of the world bad. For analogy's sake it's like a bigger flu. No lasting effects except I still have a little "tightness" in my chest and a cough that periodically comes out of no where.
Here's the big issue, you are going to see the active count go way up very quickly because up until right now they have not had enough test kits to use except for "critical cases" or people coming directly from China. If no test kit is used then you aren't added to the official count.
Now that test kits are headed out you are going to see the numbers rise quickly so it will look like it's suddenly here. My doc has seen any number of cases but he can't make them official without the test.
It greatly resembles the flu so it an be tough to differentiate. We were in isolation in the hospital for a day and then they sent us to home isolation. We kept ourselves isolated even tho we were running low on food, but what about the idiots that don't self isolate?
Just use your head and take the same common sense precautions you should be taking for the flu and you'll be OK. Don't congregate. Don't go to sporting or music events. Don't eat out as much and be careful when you do. Take your own bleach wipes for the grocery karts and shop big, not every day.
In every pandemic/end of the world/zombie book, story or movie you've ever read or seen the worst always happened because the govts were afraid to scare the public so they did too little, too late. Right now they are doing what they should be doing at approximately the right times. Travel and contact must be limited to limit the disease's spread. Do your part too and stay at home as much as you can.
The only real issue with the disease right now is that it's brand new and we have no immunities, vaccines or procedures. In a year or 2 we'll laugh at ourselves, but by that time we'll have all 3.
And it's not old people who are the most at risk, it's kids and people with immunosuppressed systems of all ages. There are lots of reasons people might have their immune systems suppressed and being sick with the flu (a common thing this time of year) is one of them.
Good News? It appears that possibly this is a cold weather disease. While it also could be travel patterns, they are seeing that most of the people affected are in the northern, colder climes. It might be that spring time will stop this for this year.
The NBA isnt playing anymore games until further notice.
That's.....kinda big news
In reply to carguy123 :
Wow, sorry you went through it, but I'm glad you made it through it!
They just canceled the 5k I was going to run on the 22nd.
Looked at logically, I know that this is something that can be gotten through. But the constant random news stories and new announcements are messing with my head right now.
I will admit to being one of the people who when this first came out was pretty flip about it. I'm much more neutral now; we had a meeting yesterday and there were some jokes going on about it but the mood was a little more nervous. I think remaining as calm and rational as possible is the correct course- the folks on the "We all gone die, buy all the TP and bottled water" side are just as bad as the "Oh, this is just a big scare for nothing, Coronavirus is a conspiracy" people.
This issue with stock piling supplies becomes a real problem, and this is why: even if people don't have a hoarder mentality, they might be tempted (as I have been) to pick up extra of stuff out of fear of other shiny happy people buying it all up. I have 3 other humans at my house, who all burn through toilet paper. I buy it by the giant economy bundle in _normal_ times. What happens if there's a concern the store might be sold out of it when we get low? I have to admit, I've been to the store like 3 times this week already, because every time I get home I look at our stock of household supplies and go, "Hmm, only one bottle of dishwasher soap left, crap, better go grab some more". We really need to develop an inventory system to track stuff so we a) don't hit the "danger zone" and b) can limit our shopping tips as much as possible.
I have noticed that, TP, hand sanitizer, and bottled water aside, other grocery store provisions seem to be holding out.
Minimizing social contact isn't going to stop the disease from spreading, but it can slow it down, and flatten out the affectivity curve. If 40% of us got it in the next month, our health care system would be overloaded (see: Italy) but if 70% of the US gets it over the next year, it won't be as bad. It's purely a numbers game.
Finally, I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but anyone who has any land (or even room for some pots) ought to start planning a garden. Not only will it get you outside, and in some fresh air and soak up some vitamin D, it'll give you something to do while you're socially distancing, you'll get the best tasting vegetables ever, and you'll further reduce how much you have to go to the store to buy produce.
slowride said:Looked at logically, I know that this is something that can be gotten through. But the constant random news stories and new announcements are messing with my head right now.
That's true. The response to this has been totally piecemeal. One town is canceling everything, the next town over is business as usual. It's hard to keep it all straight.
Keep calm, be rational, and limit exposure to the news to once or twice per day.
If this hasn't been shared in this thread yet, I would suggest everyone take 15 minutes to watch.
In reply to Gary :
While I agree with you fundamentally, there is a significant number of people who can't afford to self isolate for a week or two. They won't get paid and or will lose their jobs. Schools are going to be cancelled at the same time as daycare putting further pressure on people. There are going to be some significant social issues in the next month or two. There are also going to be some significant economic issues stemming from the reduction of travel if nothing else. The virus can be no big deal while also being a huge deal.
carguy123 said:And it's not old people who are the most at risk, it's kids
I don't think this is correct. Everything I have seen has said kids are very unlikely to suffer the worst of the symptoms.
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